For a civil society to work smoothly and effectively certain ‘social contracts’ need to have broad acceptance and be honoured by all individuals and groups. They are unwritten rules we tacitly observe. They provide a framework of understandings that allow us to live harmoniously. Some of these ‘rules’ or social contracts get defined or backed…
OWEN JENNINGS: Banks Flout their Social Contract
OWEN JENNINGS: Banks Flout their Social Contract
14 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand
New Study: Achieving A ‘Net Zero’ Emissions Policy Would Have A ‘Negligible’ 0.28°C Climate Effect
14 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth miracles, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA

Cost-benefit analyses affirm it would be better to abandon Net Zero policy initiatives and instead “do nothing” about greenhouse gas emissions. New research finds CO2’s largest possible climate impact is “negligible.” The cumulative expected temperature change in doubling CO2 from 400 to 800 ppm is only 0.81°C at most, and this is “certainly not cause…
New Study: Achieving A ‘Net Zero’ Emissions Policy Would Have A ‘Negligible’ 0.28°C Climate Effect
The NZ Green Investment Fund should be Liquidated for Losing Money that could’ve gone into alleviating Poverty.
13 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking

Only a few months ago, the Chair of the NZ Green Investment Fund (NZGIF) and Chancellor of the University of Auckland, Cecilia Tarrant, visited my “Law and Economics” class. Why? She’s a lawyer who worked in “structured products” and “real estate finance” at Morgan Stanley in New York – and knows a Kiwi friend of…
The NZ Green Investment Fund should be Liquidated for Losing Money that could’ve gone into alleviating Poverty.
Climate change plans include unrealistic land demands: an area larger than the US, says study
13 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming

Lack of realism isn’t unusual in anything connected to the so-called net zero policies of climate-obsessed governments. The researchers say unsustainable land use is an inevitable future problem given existing plans, largely due to tree-planting and other forestry targets. – – – For the first time, an international team of scientists have calculated the total […]
Climate change plans include unrealistic land demands: an area larger than the US, says study
#climateemergency
12 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
Nobody Wants To Build Wind Farms In The North Sea
10 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, industrial organisation, resource economics, survivor principle Tags: wind power

By Paul Homewood h/t Hugh Sharman If wind power was so cheap, you would think they would be queuing up to build them: The Danish Energy Agency has not received a single bid for any of the three offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the agency said in a […]
Nobody Wants To Build Wind Farms In The North Sea
Reality Collides: Constant Blackout Threat Spells Doom For Wind & Solar ‘Transition’
07 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power

A run of calm nights (particularly during very hot or very cold weather) reveals the utter pointlessness of intermittent wind and solar. And, so it is in the land Downunder. Australia’s hard Green-Left Federal government is doing its best to stare down reality, as its grand wind and solar ‘transition’ unravels. The so-called energy ‘policy’ […]
Reality Collides: Constant Blackout Threat Spells Doom For Wind & Solar ‘Transition’
Wind and Solar Can’t Support the Grid
06 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: solar power, wind power

by Planning Engineer (Russ Schussler) In October of 2025, the isolated small city of Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia with a 36 MW load (including the large nearby mines) could not be reliably served by 200 MW of wind, a 53 MW solar array, significant residential solar, and a large 50 MW battery […]
Wind and Solar Can’t Support the Grid
Climate Lawfare Goes International
06 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, property rights Tags: lawfare
DW reports on hearings underway at ICJ International Court of Justice in the Hague. Overview of the proceedings in italics with my bolds. Vanuatu urges ICJ to recognise climate change harms The outcome of the landmark case could lead to the establishment of legal framework for holding countries accountable in the fight against climate change. […]
Climate Lawfare Goes International
Cost of switching off UK wind farms soars to ‘absurd’ £1bn
05 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics, wind power

By Paul Homewood h/t Paul Kolk British bill payers have spent an “absurd” £1bn to temporarily switch off wind turbines so far this year as the grid struggles to cope with their power. The amount of wind power “curtailed” in the first 11 months of 2024 stood at about 6.6 terawatt hours (TWh), […]
Cost of switching off UK wind farms soars to ‘absurd’ £1bn
What is the price of production at nighttime?
05 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: solar power

The end of oil?
05 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: peak oil
It is now plausible to envision scenarios in which global demand for crude oil falls to essentially zero by the end of this century, driven by improvements in clean energy technologies, adoption of stringent climate policies, or both. This paper asks what such a demand decline, when anticipated, might mean for global oil supply. One […]
The end of oil?
Why Are UK Electricity Prices So High?
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics, celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power

By Paul Homewood . As we are well aware, the UK has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. It is commonly claimed that the rapid price rise in recent years has been driven by the soaring price of natural gas. In fact, this is only a small part of the story. I […]
Why Are UK Electricity Prices So High?
The Missing Myths
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, gender, global warming, health economics, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, free speech, gender wage gap, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination

Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is the best book on wokeness. One of its many strengths is its focus on basic facts. As the author explains:I have selected beliefs that can be debunked fairly quickly and forcefully. Many other progressive beliefs require long argumentation and subjective judgment calls to assess. About these more difficult issues, I…
The Missing Myths
Another corporate welfare failure
02 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming, income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: climate alarmism
The Herald reported: The Government has $115 million at risk from the collapse of SolarZero. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was seeking urgent advice on the SolarZero situation. She had no further comment. NZ Green Investment Finance – a “green investment bank” created by the previous Government to fund environmentally-friendly businesses – made a $145m…
Another corporate welfare failure

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